Blower wheel



Nov. 22, 1955 J. H. ABBOTT ETAL BLOWER WHEEL Filed Dec. 1 1950 E2 TWWM 33 m fw 2 M M2 m 5 5 W United States Patent BLOWER WHEEL John H. Abbott,Los Angeles, and Stanley F. Skafte,

Arcadia, Calif., assignors to Utility Appliance Corporation, LosAngeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application December 1,19so,seiia1 No. 198,692 2 Claims. (21. 230-134 be joined in operativerelationship with each other. Also, these blowers cannot be identical;one must be counter clockwise and the other clockwise in rotation. Priorart practicealso fastens the center plate to the vanes themselves. Thisconstruction makes it necessary to have the blades of substantiallyheavier material than in the construction described in thisspecification.

Where attempts have been made in the prior art to provide a plurality ofbanks of vanes in one blower, the complexities of structure occasionedby the large number of vanes which must be provided and the diflicultiesin manufacture have resulted inrelativelyhigh manufacturing costs.

It is, therefore, a primary object of our invention to provide a blowerwheel having a plurality of banks of vanes which is of relatively simpleconstruction, includes a minimum number of component parts, and whichcan be readily and cheaply manufactured. r i Another object, of ourinvention is the provision of a blower wheel which includes a mountingplate upon the peripheral edge of which is adapted to bemounted a drumformed of sheet metal, said drum having a mounting strip formed betweenthe banks of vanes, and said mounting strip being adapted to be engagedby the peripheral edge of the mounting plate.

An additional object of our inventionis the provision of a blower wheelhaving a plurality of banks of vanes which includes, a mounting platehaving a mounting portion, said mounting portion being adapted to engageand support a drum formed from sheet metal and having provided therein aplurality of banksof vanes, said drum including a mounting strip betweenadjacent banks of vanes adapted to engage the mounting POIiiOIlxOf saidmounting plate.

a One of the major problems encountered in prior art double blowers hasbeen the alignment of the multiplicity of vanes in the plurality ofbanks of vanes. It is absolutely necessary that the vanes in each bankbe accurately aligned with respect to one another and that theindividual banks be accurately aligned with respect to each other.

A furtherobject of our invention is the provision of a blower wheelwhich includes a mounting plate, said mounting plate having alignmentmeans adapted to engage a sheet metal drum having integrally formedtherein a plurality of banks of vanes in such a manner that the banks ofvanes and the individual vanes incorporated therein are aligned withrespect to one another.

An additional object of our invention is the provision of a blower whichincludes a mounting plate having alignment means and adapted to supporta drum formed of sheet metal and having a plurality of banks of vanesformed therefrom, said alignment means of said plate being adapted toengage the vanes of said drum to align said vanes with respect to avertical plane between the banks of vanes.

Another object of our invention is the provision of a blower wheel whichincludes a mounting plate, said mounting plate having formed thereupon aperipheral, axially directed, mounting flange, said flange being adaptedto support a sheet metal drum having formed therein a plurality of vanesarranged in opposed banks cl and said axiallydirected flange beingadapted to engage a mounting strip disposed between adjacent banks ofvanes.

An additional object of our invention is the provision of a blower wheelof the aforementioned type which includes fastener means formedintegrally with the axially directed mounting flange of said plate andreceptacle means providedin the mounting strip of the sheet metal drumadapted to receive said fastener means of said mounting flange to securesaid drum to said plate.

Other objects and advantages of our invention will be apparent from thefollowing specification and the accompanying drawing, which is for thepurpose of illustration only, and in which:

'Fig. l is a perspective view of a blower wheel con- 3 strncted inaccordance with our invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical, partly sectional view taken on the broken line 2-4of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary broken line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View of the fastener means of our invention; and

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken on the broken line 55 ofFig. 4.

Referring to the drawing and, more particularly, to Figs. 1 and 2thereof, we show a blower wheel 11) constructed in accordance with ourinvention. The blower wheel 10 includes a mounting plate 11 which is ofcircular configuration and a drum 12 of generally cylindricalconfiguration supported upon said mounting plate. The mounting plate 11includes a first, circular disc 13 having a flat peripheral portion 14and a centrally located, dished portion 15. Securely fastened to thecircular disc 13, as by means of spot welding, is a second disc 16 ofsomewhat less diameter, said second disc having a centrally located,oppositely dished portion 17 which is juxtaposed to the dished portion15 of the circular disc 13 to rigidify the mounting plate 11.

Oppositely disposed openings 18 and 19 are provided respectively in thedished portions 15 and 17 of the discs 13 and 16, and disposed in saidopenings is a substantially cylindricallyshaped hub member 20 which issecured in the openings 18 and 19 by means of welding or any similarexpedient. Thus, the oppositely dished portions 15 and 17 of the discs13 and 16 also provide oppositely disposed contiguous openings 18 and 19which plan view taken from the constitute a mount for the hub 20.

3 also provides alignment means. 2.9, said. alignment means. beingconstituted by that portion of the plate 11 and, more particularly ofthe disc 13, which joins the axlally v directed mounting flange 27 withthe peripheral fiat portion 14 of the disc 13, for a purpose which willbe described in greater detail below.

The drum 12 is formed of sheet metal, and prior to its installation uponthe mounting plate 11 is constituted by an elongated, rectangular stripof sheet metal which is mounted upon the mounting plate 11 in a mannerto be described in greater detail below. The drum 12 includes aplurality of banks of vanes 32 and 33, the bank 32 including vanes 34and the bank 33 including vanes 35. The innermost root portions 36 and37 of the vanes 34 and 35 which are contiguous to each other are formedintegrally with a substantially centrally located mounting strip 38. Theoutermost root portions 40 and 41 of the vanes 34 and 35, respectively,are formed integrally with end strips 42 and 43.

As may be most clearly seen from Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, the vanes34 and 35 of the banks 32 and 33 are directed inwardly in asubstantially radial direction toward the axis of the blower wheel 10.Provided upon the end strip 42 and securely fastened thereto, as bymeans of Welding, is an end ring 46, said end ring serving to furtherrigidify the drum l2 and being of substantially right-angle shape incross section. Disposed upon and secured to the end strip 43, as bymeans of welding, is an end ring 47 which is of substantially rightangleshape in cross section and which serves to rigidify that end of the drum12 upon which it is fastened.

When the drum 12 and mounting plate 11 are disposed in operativerelationship with each other, the centrally located mounting strip 38 isdisposed in contiguity with the axially extending mounting flange 27 ofthe mounting plate 11. The centrally located mounting strip 38 of thedrum 12 can be secured to the mounting flange 27 of the mounting plate11 by means of welding, as indicated at 49 in Fig. 3 of the drawing.However, if it is not desired to weld the centrally located mountingstrip 38 of the drum 12 upon the mounting flange 27 of the mountingplate 11, an alternative mounting means, best shown in Figs. 4 and 5 ofthe drawing, can be utilized. In this construction, the mounting flange27 is provided with a plurality of upstruck fastening means 51constituted by tongues 52, which are formed integrally withv themounting flange 27. Formed in the centrally located mounting strip 38 ofthe drum 12 and disposedv at. distances from one another which are equalto the distances between the tongues 52 on the mounting flange 27, is aplurality of orifices 53, said orifices being adapted to re.- ceive thetongues 52 and the tongues being subsequently bent over a portion of thearea of the centrally located mounting strip 38 contiguous to theorifices to retain the drum in operative relationship with the mountingplate 11.

As indicated previously, one of the major obstacles to be overcome inthe manufacture of blowers having a plurality of banks of vanes is thealignment of the banks with respect to one another and of the vaneswithin the banks with respect to each other-and with respect to thevanes in contiguous banks. As best shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, thealignment means 29 provided by the mounting plate 11 is adapted toengage the root portions 36 of the vanes 34 of the bank 32 formed in theblower drum 12. Since the alignment means 29 is contacted by the rootportions 36 of all of thevanes 34 in the bank 32' and since thealignment means 29 is substantially coincident with a plane AA betweenthe banks of vanes, all of the vanes 34 are properly and axiallyarranged with respect to one another. Of course, since the vanes 35 ofthe bank 33 are. integrally formed with the vanes 34 of the bank 32 andare connected thereto by means of the. centrally located mounting strip38, the adjustment of the.

vanes 34 through the contact of the root. portions 36 thereof with thealignment means 29 causes the automatic adjustment of the bank 33 withrespect to the bank 32 and, in turn, the automatic alignment of thevanes 35 of the bank 33 with respect to each other and with respect tothe vanes 34 of the bank 32. In this manner, a simple and economicalmeans for readily achieving the alignment of the banks of vanes withrespect to each other and ofthe vanes within the bank with respect toone another is provided.

If desired, the peripheral edge 55 ot"v the mounting flange 27 can beutilized as an auxiliary alignment means by extending the width of the.mounting flange 27' so that it equals the width of they mounting strip38 of the drum 12, thus bringing the peripheral edge 55 of the mountingflange 27 into contact with the roots 37 of the vanes 35 of the bank 33.However, it has been found that the provision of the alignment means 29is suflicient to properly and axially align, the banks 32 and 33 and thevanes 34' and 35 of said banks with respect to one another. Thus, whenthe assembly is completed by the fastening of the centrally locatedstrip 38 of the drum 12- to the mounting flange 27 of the mounting plate11, the component portions of the drum 12 are axially aligned withrespect to one another. In addition, considerablestructural rigidity isimparted to the entire blower-by the contact of the alignment means 29with the roots 36 of the vanes 34 and by the relatively large surfacearea of the mounting flange 27 of the mounting plate 11 which is incontact and in continual engagement with the centrally located mountingstrip 38 of the drum 12. It will be noted: that because of the alignmentof the vanes and banks by the alignment means 29, the vanes and banksare properly and axially oriented with respect to a vertical planerepresented by theline A--A of Fig; 3 of the drawing.

Considering now the manner in which the' blower wheel 10 is assembled,the hub 20 is fastened to the disc 13 through opening 18 by welding orcurling. Then the opening 19 in the second disc 16 is placed over thehub 20. This aligns the disc 16 which is subsequently welded to thefirst disc 13. An elongated strip' of sheet stock which has the banks 32and 33' formed therein and the vanes 34 and 35-properly formed anddisposed therein is wrapped around the mounting plate 11, the axiallydirected mounting flange 27 of the mounting plate 11 being insertedbetween the adjacent roots 36 and 37 of contiguous vanes 34 and 35toengage the centrally located mounting strip 38'.

Prior to fastening the axially directed mounting flange 27 tov thecentrally located mounting strip 38, the roots 36 of the vanes 34 aremoved into engagement with the alignment means 29 of the mounting plate11 to orient the bank 32 and the vanes 34' thereof axially of themounting plate 11 to insure the proper alignment of the bank and vanestherein and to accomplishthe automatic alignment of the bank 33 and thevanes 35 incorporated therein. After this alignment step has been taken,the centrally located strip 38- is fastened to the axially directedflange 27 of the mounting plate 11 either by welding or by the use ofthe integral fasteners 51 and the openings 53, as indicated previously.

Subsequently to the. fastening of the axially directed flange. 37 of he.mounting plate 11 to the centrally located mounting strip 38, the endrings 46; and 47 are fastened, respectively, to the end strips 42 and43, as by means of welding.

Thus, in relatively few steps the entire blower; assembly may beassembled and the component elements. thereof properly aligned withrespect to one another'and properly secured to one another. In thismanner we provide a blower wheel which is of simple. construction, whichincludes a. minimum number of parts, and. which. may be readily and;easily assembled; subsequently to the. tab

rication of said parts.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a blower Wheel, the combination of: a circular mounting platehaving a mounting portion constituted by a flat, axially directed flangeformed integrally therewith and a centrally located hub fastenedthereto, an edge of said flange providing alignment means; a pluralityof fasteners formed integrally with said flange; and a cylindrical drumhaving a flat, axially directed mounting strip engaged by said flange,said strip being provided with a plurality of receptacles for engagementby said fasteners, said drum having a plurality of banks of vanes formedintegrally with said mounting strip and disposed on opposite sidesthereof and the roots of the vanes in one of said banks being directlyengaged by said alignment means.

2. In a blower wheel, the combination of: a circular mounting platehaving an axially directed, peripheral flange formed integrallytherewith, the opposite edges of said flange constituting vane alignmentmeans; a plurality of fasteners formed integrally with said flange, saidfas- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,038,110 Foss Sept. 10, 1912 1,459,927 Otis June 26, 1923 1,734,541Tedman Nov. 5, 1929 1,876,518 Mathis Sept. 6, 1932 2,157,441 SullivanMay 9, 1939 2,315,407 Evans Mar. 30, 1943

